appalachia and the big bend here. not a lot of populated cities but a lot of small communities there that will just be swamped. here's our launch. they show us the spaghetti lines of where the storm will head. it's going to be a horrible blow for these people tomorrow afternoon. >> bill cairns, thank you for that report. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts right now. ambassador nikki haley announces her resignation. the president said she brought glamour to the job, but what's next for haley and who is next at the u.n.? there is a storm hours from arrival tonight that might have the power to knock politics off the front page tomorrow. tonight the strengthening hurricane michael and the danger it poses now to lives and property and the gulf coastline. "the 11th hour" on a tuesday

night begins now. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 628 of the trump administration and we will get to all it have of it in just a . but first there's been a dangerous change in the forecast, and we want to get to the latest update on the path and intensity of hurricane michael. for that we are joined by our meteorologist bill karins. bill, what do you have? >> bottom line, this part of florida has never seen a storm of this intensity. it still looks like fort walton beach the destination area over towards pensacola. that's on the back side of the storm. it doesn't look like they'll get the extreme damage. panama city beach, appalachia and cocoa beach, those are the areas that will be devastated.

it's deepened over the last couple hours. it's almost to a cat 4 with 125-mile-an-hour winds. the rain band is not far from the coast. this literally is the final minutes of preparation time for anyone in this area, and if anyone still remains in that area, they should still get out while they can. even if i was as far inland as tallahassee at i-10, i would consider getting out of there, because you're not going to have power for weeks after the storm goes through. if you can live with that and you don't want to worry about trees falling on top of your car, things like that, just get out of there. they're going as far as tallahassee. there will be extreme tree damage and extreme power outages. all our computer models are targeting appalachia, florida. this area will see extreme wind

damage. the storm surge still 8 to 10 feet over to cedar key. this is the timing that everyone needs to know. in the morning not too bad yet. still getting a little spotty in appalachia. still in the eye at 1:30 in the afternoon and from there we take it to southern georggeorgia. a very dangerous storm and this will be one of those events where the community will not look the same after this horrible event. >> this community is not ready for a category 3, category 4 storm. as we said, this is day 628 of the trump administration which brought a surprise resignation from perhaps the most prominent woman in the trump cabinet. nikki haley, u.s. am bobassador the united nations, joined the president in the oval office

today for the announcement that she would be leaving at the end of the year. >> she told me probably six months ago, she said, you know, maybe at the end of the year, the end of a two-year period, but the end of the year, i want to take a little time off. i want to take a little break. she's made it a very glamorous position. she's made it a -- more importantly, a more important position. sdplz there's no person . >> there's no personal reasons. i think it's just important for government officials to understand when it's time to step aside. for all of you that are going to ask about 2020, no, i'm not running for 2020. i can tell you that i will be campaigning for this one. >> it took those inside the administration off guard. it it comes just two weeks before the midterms, of course, just weeks, rather, before the midterms. this departure means everyone except for the president in this picture from august of 2017 is now, in effect, out of the picture. haley, a former republican governor of south carolina,

declined to be more specific about her reasons for leaving. she did, however, make a point of praising two key members of the president's family. >> i can't say enough good things about jared and ivanka. jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands. i mean, to redo the nafta deal the way he did. what i've done working with him on the middle east peace plan, it is so unbelievably well done. and ivanka has been just a great friend, and they do a lot of things behind the scenes that i wish more people knew about. >> so far no word about haley's future plans, but in her resignation letter dated october 3rd, notably, she writes, quote, i expect to continue to speak out from time to time on important public policy matters, but i will surely not be a candidate for any office in 2020. earlier today on this network, the man who preceded her as governor of south carolina questioned, like a lot of other people, the timing of haley's

decision. >> something doesn't smell right. something is weird. i can't put my finger on it. either there is another shoe to drop from a trump standpoint, something we don't know and she wants to get out of the way of. >> no proof of that. nikki haley went from being an outspoken candidate during the 2016 campaign through being an ambassador at the u.n. she has pushed for change with iran and north korea. she has at times disagreed with administration, and that includes her criticism of russia and vladimir putin. when another white house official accused her of having, quote, momentary confusion, forgive me, after announcing sanctions on the kremlin before the president did, she fired right back saying, i don't get confused. haley also came under scrutiny after the publication of that anonymous "new york times" op-ed

last month written by an unnamed member of the trump administration. a few days later, haley came out with her own op-ed challenging the author for not naming them directly. there were tensions in the west wing that might have led to this. quote, the expansive portfolio she enjoyed during rex tillerson's tenure as secretary of state was diminished by the arrival of secretary of state mike pompeo and adviser john bolton, who controlled foreign policy out of the white house and made themselves for visible than their predecessors. trump has also been leery of her ambitions as times, frustrated when she made announcements on tv or when she garnered large amounts of glowing press coverage. >> would you like to see hanikk

haley be the next u.s. senator of south carolina? >> that depends who she's running against. you have two good ones there right now, so i don't see her doing that, no. >> do you think lindsey graham will stay there? >> i think he will. i think he's really happy. lindsey has really stepped up in the last two weeks. i thought it was fantastic. lindsey is a popular guy, and jim is a popular guy. i think those are the two people -- nikki doesn't have that in mind. >> tim was the other republican senator efhe was talking about from south carolina. he said he has five people on his short list for nikki haley's replacement. debbie powell is one of them, a former gold an sachs executive who was trump's adviser until late last year. let's bring in our panel for a

tuesday night. andrea mitchell, chief news affairs correspondent, also hoe hosts the news every day on this network. and for good measure, jeremy bash, former chief of staffer at the cia and the pentagon. good evening and welcome to you all. andrea, you get to go first. this is your beat. why now and what does this say about nikki haley and the trump administration? >> well, ashley parker didn't win those pulitzers for nothing. they're exactly right, i think, that she has a diminished role right now because she has a very strong, very effective secretary of state in mike pompeo who is very close to the president. rex tillerson was none of those things. and you have john bolton who hates the united nations, is very strong and with a very strong deputy. she was having less ability to

exert her influence. and this is perfect timing. this is nikki haley, i think, choosing the exact right moment to have her day in the sun. how many people have left this administration on good terms with the president, even though she has, in the past, disagreed with him on some issues? you pointed out russia. and sitting in the oval office with her own moment without any kind of tension with her script, and that's the way she wants to leave before the election, which has an uncertain, you know, outcome, certainly, for the republicans. this way if she leaves after the election, there is going to be a lot of departure. she would become a footnote in the resignation or firing of jeff sessions, or the sort of checkerboard of people leaving. now she has the full day and more of the lead story. >> andrea makes so many interesting points there, number one, how few have come away from

the crowd with their reputation, a, burnished, and b, even undamaged and powell has been on that short list. maggie haber man said, gopers and trump supporters saw last week as one of the few good ones of his administration. consider, instead of continuing any momentum, the week is instead likely to be about nikki haley and kanye west. jeremy, have at it. >> i don't think anyone wants me to talk about kanye west, so i'll talk about nikki haley. what nikki haley is doing here, and this is not lost on any republican i've spoken to, any republican, period, she's kept her reputation intact by leaving before the midterms which are likely to come to a rather

unpleasant conclusion for republicans if they were held today. she a voids that taint of looking like she's leaving on a bad note. she also is exiting at a time when trump is further alien aatg himself from women voters, women voters who have been leaving the gop in droves. there was just the other day when trump called christine blasey ford's accusations against judge kavanaugh a hoax and a fraud, so nikki haley gets to put some distance between herself and the president, so when she's asked about those remarks which she most certainly will be, she can give a more honest answer instead of having to say something where she's hedging in having to really curry favor with the president and give a less than forthright answer. nikki haley has always been a very savvy person who has aligned herself with elements of the party that have proven controversial. most people don't remember that

it was sarah palin who catapulted her to national st stardom when she endorsed nikki haley for governor in 2010. that made nikki haley rise in the polls. she was at the bottom rung and she won the republican primary and won the governorship. i see this move as being executed by somebody who sees a political future for herself, and i don't know any republican who thinks that someday she won't run for president, whether that's in 2020 if trump decides not to run again, or 2024 or some other date. >> a lot of us hearing the same thing. so jeremy bash, about the work and the rigor of conducting foreign policy which has been the work of most of your life, what is lost in that area with the loss of nikki haley? and of course we don't know about a replacement yet. >> first i think we should say, brian, that working one year in trumpland is like working seven human years. it is a complete grind of the most of the officials with whom

i speak are counting the days until they can hit the exits. second, brian, she's been in the enviable position of defending unilateralism, of defending this crazy america first, and the most awkward of lateralizations, the united nations. she's not exactly been a full throttle endorser of the president's belief in world affairs. she's had to watch and stand idly by while the president has been next to putin in helsinke and basically said he trusted them over the united states community, but slightly put off that russia has been put at odds with the way trump feels about the issue.

>> what about the woman at the top of the short list, dina powell? >> dina powell did return to goldman sachs so she would be sacrificing a lot financially and personally if she were to do this. dina powell was very successful. she worked for condoleezza rice. she worked in the bush white house which used to be disqualifying in trumpland, but we've seen judge kavanaugh when the moons are a liglin aligned right way. she has foreign policy experience, she is ethnically egyptian. it would be challenging to go to the u.n. at a time when not only the muslim ban but the palestinian relief and aid. she's very close to ivanka and jared and also has gotten along well with secretary pompeo. so if she wants it, this could be a very good fit for her.

the other candidate is a top aide to national security adviser bolton when efls at the u.n. as ambassador and bolton was a recessed appointment, never confirmed by the senate, just likes the united nations. he's defended angela merkel in germany, but is very close to bolton and well thought of by the president. >> so jeremy peters, when the president said today nikki haley made the job more glamorous, i'm going to assume that wasn't a comparison so adlai steven sson. what do you think he meant? >> i think that's a safe bet. look, how trump views success is through image. when he looked at nikki haley, he saw someone who fit the part. he is somebody himself who has said he picks people from central casting. that's part of why he picked rex tillerson for secretary of

state. it's also part of why he was drawn to mitt romney as secretary of state. it's why he likes mike pompeo as secretary of state. he wants somebody out there projecting a positive image for the world, for our country. with trump, image appearance is never far from his mind, and i think that's a lot of what he saw in nikki haley. of course, he also saw somebody who is very shrewd politically and somebody who is now doubt a threat to him should she choose to be. as i said earlier, i think she's too clever to get in trump's way, to get crosswise with the republican base. i heard today, just to show you how well she's got her bases covered, who else are you going to hear praised by the "new york times" editorial page and rush limbaugh in the span of 12 hours. >> and netanyahu, too. >> that's a three-way good bank shot right there. and jeremy bash, we're not even

going to run the part of the comments that dealt with his daughter ivanka. he said that would be nepotism. we remind everyone she remains an assistant to the president. and we are reminded this is work on the part of the president. >> if he picked someone like dina powell, the president and the whole nation will want that person to work on issues like middle east peace, to work on issues like sanctions against russia, against north korea, to deal with china's rise, to deal with migration issues across europe, to deal with counterterrorism and cybersecurity. these are very serious issues that protect our national security. it's important to put people in that job that are both knowledgeable and experienced. >> our thanks tonight to andrea mitchell. to both jeremys, peter and cast.

president trump wrapped up his midterm tour, this time with a rally in iowa, but new polls find that his message may not be hitting a very crucial voting block. to the russia investigation, the very serious go-to charge by the president that it's a hoax. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a tuesday night. man 2: (behind wall) they are! and craig practices the accordion every night! says the guy who sings karaoke by himself. i'm a very shy singer. you're tone deaf! ehh... should we move on to the next one? it's a great building! you'll love it here! we have mixers every thursday. geico®. it's easy to switch and save on homeowners and renters insurance.

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on november 6, you have the chance to stop radical democrats by electing the republican house and the republican senate. democrats have become totally unhinged. they've gone crazy. the democrats have become too extreme, and they've become, frankly, too dangerous to govern. they've gone wacko. you don't hand matches to an arsonist, and you don't give power to an angry left wing mob, and that's what the democrats have become. >> so president on the road this week out ahead of the midterms. you heard the message there, vote republican or risk mob rule by the democrats. this is the new talking point just in the past few days. listen for it already in heavy rotation as our friends at the apm hour compiled tonight. >> the radical democrats have turned into an angry mob.

>> the far left mob is not letting up. >> they have encouraged mob rule. >> anyone who is a trump supporter, we're all targets of this. >> there is only one party that has normalized violence in the last two years, and it's not republicans. >> that is the mob rule. >> what is this mob rule? >> basically mob rule. no law and order. >> do you want mob rule? >> the average citizen f you're on the right, could be in danger. >> plenty happening in the arena this evening, including a familiar chant but this time directed at a new target. >> how about senator feinstein? that's another beauty. that's a beauty. did you leak the documents? what? no, i didn't. did we leak? did we leak?

no. no. >> lock her up lock her up. lock her up. lock her up. >> to talk about what we saw and going forward, kimberly, and for the boston herald. kimberly, is fear and anger motivators that are likely to sustain for 28 or 29 long days here until the midterms? >> the republicans seem to think so. it's a unified message that has brought them together from the hill to the white house. you see the president there and senator mcconnell and others really doubling down on it. we've seen the president turn to fear before, whether he's pushing immigration policies or other things. but it's clearly very important for the republicans right now to

try to keep the momentum up that they saw from their base in particular after the fight over the new supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. it seems that these rallies that the president does, stumping for various midterm candidates, is a messaging test kitchen of sorts, and it seems that the crowd really responded to it. so i think this is something that you're going to continue to see. >> they sure are taking mob rule out for a spin. hey, nancy, i want to show you something else. the president apparently miffed tonight when he discovered the number of nebraskans in the crowd after being promised an event in iowa. we'll listen to it and come out the other side. >> today i kept another major promise, as i said, to the people of iowa and nebraska and other countries. [ cheers and applause ]

>> i could go on all night, but i want to get the hell out of here, okay? because i thought i was coming to iowa, and there's more people from nebraska. >> well, let's just consult the map here for a second. the president landed tonight in omaha, nebraska where it is possible to drive south just across the river into council bluffs, iowa where the rally was held. so the rally was held in iowa. you're going to attract a lot of nebraskans, a lot of red co cornhusker-wearing nebraska. i don't know any other politician that could get away with, i've got to get the hell out of here. >> the crowd is is jujust in thm of his hand, and i think that's why he likes going on these campaign style rallies so much, because the crowd is such a fun

environment. the president now has a foil heading into the midterms, he's talking about democrats has a mob rule, and sees doing all these rallies this week. he's in iowa, tomorrow he's going to pennsylvania, friday he's in ohio. he could say anything to this crowd like, i want to get out of here, or chanting about locking up senator feinstein. that's what the crowd was doing tonight. everyone goes along with it. it really is an adoring situation and he eats it up. >> you just mentioned the upcoming rally schedule, and a lot of people noticed today it looks like a 2020 rally travel map more than just a 2018 midterm map. >> well, i think that honestly that has been the plan even since august. you know, i've talked to republicans close to the white house who really laid out to me the idea that moving ahead, so

much of these rallies stra tijukaicalstr people like him. as we move closer to the midterms, he'll do rallies in places where he thinks he'll be more successful. as you said, he is trying to create and build support heading into 2020. >> kim, a section of the west wing where they worry about things like polls, they have a problem with independence post-kavanaugh and increasingly they have a problem with women who are telling pollsters they will vote for a democrat in the congressional district. you see the far category. let's round it, 70 to 30. this is bad for republicans. >> this is a key demographic for republicans. i can remember a short couple weeks ago where republicans were telling me they were nervous

that the kavanaugh nomination would be problematic for the midterms for women just because of how much abortion would be talked about. that was before the sexual misconduct claims, that's before the way many republicans have responded to those claims. so we are seeing some numbers that clearly has turned off some women, has really caused some concern in these races where republicans are trying to stave off any sort of blue wave ripple, whatever size it might be. it's proven problematic and that's one thing why they're trying to gen up their most ardent base in the four weeks we have left before voters head for the polls. >> really appreciate you both coming on with us tonight. coming up, we're going to go west. we're going to talk about a key race out in nevada, one the democrats want badly. we'll be doing it with steve kornacki, who is at the big board with some new numbers in.

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vote after expressing his displeasure over the number of nebraskans at the event. there will be two in this very room watching the election, the house and the senate. for the senate, the dream of democratic control may be too lofty to be obtainable. one they were hoping to pick up was nevada, but the latest numbers could be trouble for the democrats. our national political correspondent steve kornacki has the latest numbers at the big board. hello, steve. >> hey, brian. we have a brand new nbc poll from nevada. dean heller leading his democratic challenger jacky rosen by two points. heller is the only republican incumbent on the senate side this year that is running on a state that hillary clinton carried in 2016. on paper he is a very vulnerable republican. he still is a very vulnerable republican, but there was other polling over the summer that had

heller down. we had him leading by two points in this race. if democrats are going to have a path of picking up the senate, many things need to happen, but what must absolutely happen for them is they must beat dean heller. this is a bad sign for democrats, but it comes on the heels of a string of polls on the senate side in particular that have spelled trouble for them. we have seen in tennessean eight-point lead for marcia blackburn, second poll to show we are at least ahead by five. last week in tennessee, of course, over the summer, maybe defying gravity a little bit in tennessee. is political gravity trying to reassert itself in tennessee? in texas, beto o'rourke making an appearance. ted cruz still leading in that state. heidi heitkamp, this poll taken before she voted no on the kavanaugh nomination.

just to show you what that would mean in terms of the senate battleground. if north dakota were to go republican, if ted cruz were to hang on in texas. in tennessee if we say political gravity asserts itself, those three right there with nothing else, those three right there get republicans to 50. with pence breaking the tie, that's the majority. and then if you could add in nevada, if dean heller could hang on, this entire battleground democrats could sweep it and you would still have a republican majority. that's why democrats discouraged this week on the senate side, brian. >> no one better to lay it all out. steve kornacki, thank you, as always. sure appreciate having on you this shift. coming up for us, hoaxes, witch hunts, fake news. the long hi-term impact of thos go-to phrases our president uses. that when we come back. come bak how can we say when you book direct at choicehotels.com

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now they're thinking about impeaching a brilliant jurist, a man that did nothing wrong, a man that was caught up in a hoax that was set up by the democrats using the democrats' lawyers. it was all made up, it was fabricated, and it's a disgrace. >> so you heard the word "hoax" there, president trump talking about the nomination fight surrounding justice kavanaugh employing that go-to phrase when he encounters a problem, and that is to label something a hoax. >> you can talk all you want about russia, which is all a fake news fabricated deal. >> it's a democrat hoax that was brought up as an excuse for losing an election. >> this was a -- really a hoax created largely by the democrats. >> the russian collusion hoax. it's a hoax. >> then they go after us for a russian hoax. it's a witch hunt hoax. >> i had nothing to do with

russia. i never did. it was a big hoax. it's a hoax. it's called the democrat hoax. it's a big fat hoax. i have nothing to do with russia. >> just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. >> while it may seem familiar by now, the practice of labeling something that is unproven, is fake or a hoax, has its own real dangers. one author explained this in his book "on tyranny." in it he writes, quote, to abandon fact is to abandon freedom. if nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. if nothing is true, then all is spectacle. for more we welcome back to the broadcast professor timothy schneider. he started academically as an ivy league scholar and was in

europe with the holocaust originally. his latest book is "the road to unfreedom." russia, europe, america. we'll have you on again to talk about the next book. specifically what you have seen since publishing this book, fake news, hoax, the danger of it. >> fake news is a problem because it means you're trying to govern from uncertainty. what you're doing as president is filling the public's fear with fiction. then you blame it on the other side, the democrats or the journalists, then you try to govern from a position of confusion. what i've noticed is that the rest of the world looks at this and is copying it. it's particularly disturbing in germany and austria where i've been spending some time lately. in germany, there is a phrase leugenplasten. it's disturbing because it's what hitler said about journ

journalis journalists. the real journalists are the lying journalists. it is a direct translation of fake news in english. so what we're seeing is our own ways of underwriting our own democracy are trying to come back. >> weaving together your experience, you can make a direct red line tie to what is going on in the united states to these terrible tales we're hearing in europe. >> absolutely. this is all one story. there is no such thing as american exceptionalism. what everyone else does matters to us. the rise of authoritarianism has been the story throughout the west for the last decade or so, and authoritarians look at trump, they copy his actions, express his admiration for him just as he expresses his admiration for them.

>> before modes in which the truth dies, open hostility to verifiable reality. s shamanistic incantation, magical thinking, misplaced faith. >> i wrote this before the president started, and i wish they all four weren't there, but weaver seen all four. calling russia a hoax is denial of the 26 million exposures on facebook, it's a denial of the headlines. and then shamastic incantation. the things that have magical power, forget what's actually going on. >> mexico can pay for the wall. >> yeah. and there doesn't have to be a wall, there just has to be a chant, the thing that makes us

feel like us and forget the fact. >> i can't thank you enough for returning to our broadcast. this is the book. very simple, "on tyranny," written by the man who has just returned from writing his next book. that is europe, and that's a story line that sadly has a lot to do with what we're witnessing. thank you, as always, for coming on our broadcast. >> it was my pleasure. another break here. when we come back, this upgrade in the forecast, sadly, from 3 to a suspected 4 at landfall for this out of nowhere but now very dangerous hurricane on the gulf coast of florida. take this left. if you listen real hard you can hear the whales. oop. you hear that? (vo) our subaru outback lets us see the world.

sometimes in ways we never imagined.

welcome back. just want to show you some imagery as we talk about this hurricane. you remember florence, we were talking about her a week before landfall. look at this thing churning in the gulf right now. it gets as its food the warm water from the gulf of mexico,

and as we heard bill karins say earlier, it looks like it's going to arrive as a 4. they are not used to handling a 4 of a hurricane on that side of florida. bill us for a late live update on this storm. bill? >> good evening, brian. when we get into these situations, the national weather service office send out a hurricane local statement. in it, they usually have pretty strong wording, to let them nope how serious this. so, this is just one sentence from the national weather service out of tallahassee, the panama city area, all the way down to the big bend of florida. a potentially catastrophic event is developing. some areas could be uninhabitable for weeks, if not months after the storm goes through. and this is all going to happen tomorrow in real time during the afternoon into the early evening. so, let me give you the latest, in case you weren't with us at the top of the hour, for the 11:00 update. the next will be 5:00 in the morning. 1 125-mile-per-hour winds, we're

almost up to a category 4. it's been strengthening all day long. and you can see on radar, the green here, there's the eye. that's what we will track, you do not want to go through that eye wall. you don't want to be on the right side of the eye. that's where the strongest winds will be at landfall. the hurricane center hasn't changed the forecast path. the path has been almost right over the top of panama city here for 24 to 48 hours at least. the right side of that is down near towards apalachicola. that's the area of most current. but we still haven't ruled out anything. we're watching this closely from december tin to ft. walton beach. and one thing, when you have a storm that's this huge and because of the topography of florida, the southern portion to the north goes north to south and then we go east to west, that water piles up here, has nowhere to go. so, 200 miles away from the center landfall, we will get water levels of 8 to 12-foot storm surge. yes, there's not a lot of huge population centers here, but a lot of these small towns are

going to be swamped with water, with wave action on top of it. so, that's really from cedar key back to where we get the landfall here, areas near panama city. the winds, the timing. when you wake up tomorrow morning, don't expect to see the worst of it yet. it will just start to be getting windy at 8:00 a.m. as we go through the day, that's when things really start to ramp up. look at this. by 1:00 p.m., there's the eye, so, we're going to be close to a landfall a little after noon, local time here. remember, the western portion, this is right where the time zone change is, right where it's going to be making landfall. 1 109-mile-per-hour winds early in the afternoon. once you get to winds at 50 to 60, that's when you start losing power. in the middle of the afternoon, it will still be daylight, people will be using power. this is when the destruction will take place. this is when the worst of the storm surge will be coming onshore. waters are already up because of the constant wind from the

south. 5:00 p.m., tallahassee, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. is when you'll see your highest winds. georgia, 8:00 p.m., you start to see your highest gusts. and then finally, the other element, remember, florence was a horrible rainstorm. this one's moving pretty quickly, brian. we are going to see a general 3 to 6 inches of rain. we can take that, we haven't had a lot of rain since florence in the carolinas. i don't think we're going to have water problems. it's going to be the storm surge and incredible destructive winds. >> bill, right quick, why is this so sudden? most lay people weren't talking about this storm as recently as this weekend. it seemed to explode off the coast of cuba and come from out of nowhere. >> about seven days ago, our computers were hinting at something forming, but at the time, the computers were saying there was going to be a lot of wind shear. the wind shear destroys thunderstorms. it's the strong winds where the jets fly, and that tears the top off thunderstorms. well, the wind shear died off significantly over the last

couple days. that wasn't really predicted well, say four, five days ago. we were thinking, maybe just a rainmaker. bull when that shear died off, this time of year, it's bath water in the gulf of mexico. and this storm's just feasting on it. >> yeah. it really has our attention tonight. bill will be bun busy man tomorrow. bill, appreciate you staying up with us tonight. another break, coming up, the search for clues in the mysterious disappearance in a journalist overseas and where he was last seen alive when we come back. sto you can create a lifelong income... so you have the freedom to keep doing whatever is most meaningful to you. a reliable income that lets you retire, without retiring from life. that's the power of pacific. ask your financial professional about pacific life today.

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last thing before we go tonight, serious business involving that man, the ongoing questions of what happened to jamal khashoggi, a saudi journalist and "washington post" columnist last seen entering saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul, turkey. that was over a week ago. along with the last known photo of him tonight, we get the latest details on this case from our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: this is the last time saudi journalist and "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi was seen alive, entering the saudi bounce late in istanbul last week. what happened next is a mystery. and now, secretary of state mike pompeo is calling on saudi arabia to support a thorough investigation. khashoggi, a vocal credit of saudi arabia's crown prince told the bbc three days before he

went missing he knew he'd made powerful enemies. >> when do you think you might be able to go home again? >> i don't think i'll be able to go. >> reporter: turkish officials have two working theories. that khashoggi was kidnapped from the consulate or that he was killed and dismembered inside. turn irk security forces are now hunting for a black van that may have carried khashoggi's body and two saudi chartered jets that arrived and left istanbul airport. khashoggi had gone to the consulate to get paperwork so he could marry his turkish fiance. tonight, she has a police escort. saudi arabia will allow investigatiors to search the consulate and denies any involvement in khashoggi's disappearance. richard engel, nbc news. >> "the new york times" reports tonight that turkish officials say khashoggi was assassinated inside the consulate. the report says it remains

unclear how the turkish government determined how he had been killed. serious business to end our broadcast. and that is our tuesday night broadcast. thanks to you for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. very happy to have you with us. even as the carolinas are not yet totally over the lingering effects of hurricane florence, which, of course, was a major flooding event in that part of the country, now hurricane michael is expected to hit tomorrow. with florence, you may remember that was a very slow-moving storm, and we had a whole bunch of days of advanced notice as to when that one was going to come ashore and at what strength and to what likely effect. in contrast, this new storm michael has come on fast. it is a fast-moving storm and a fast expanding threat. it's been more than a decade since a storm this big has hit the part of florida where hurricane michael is expected to come ashore tomorrow afternoon. the storm will first hit the